Keep Hand County Weird
– By #MillerSD
I recently visited Austin Texas and their slogan is, “Keep Austin Weird.” We saw this on T Shirts, hats, cups, billboards, business windows, bumper stickers, EVERYWHERE. Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station.
Austin's international reputation for being weird, zany, and slightly off-kilter was established and they are proud to be weird. I thought about this tagline and what words would define our community right here in Hand County. I am not convinced that “Keep Hand County Weird” would stick like it did in Austin but I do like the idea of creating something that is unique to our community and our businesses.
I really got my wheels turning about a slogan for our area and our business community. My thoughts were steered towards shopping local and making sure to keep supporting our community. I love the word KEEP. Hand County is rich in history and tradition and I believe that word keep, helps tell our story.
Weird isn’t a word I think of when talking about our community. The words I think of to describe our business community is generous, fun, loyal, and caring. I know there are so many more.
Some of the slogans I thought that best describes Hand County is “Keep Hand County Loyal”, “Keep Hand County Thriving,” “Keep Hand County Standing” and “Keep Hand County Kicking.” I could totally see “Keep Hand County Kicking” on a billboard coming into town with a horse on it. Or coffee mugs with the Miller green text in the windows of our downtown shops.
The whole idea is to promote local businesses and help our community stay alive. We need our business community to be open for business so that the next generation can come and live in our community and raise their families. We need people to shop local, support our schools, support our hospital, gas stations, lumberyards, and everything in between so that they are there for the next generation.
What do y’all think? Does Hand County need a catchy slogan and what would stick? If you have a great idea, let me know. I’d love to see what bubbles up. Remember to “Keep Hand County Weird” by supporting local. We really don’t want to be like those other small towns in South Dakota that have disappeared.
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